Sureiyazu

Episode 21: Kasai's Forge

"I know what you mean." Kasai sounded serious - more so that Akuma had ever heard her sound. "You're supposed to be dead, but you're still alive. By coincidence. Or luck."

"Kasai -" Akuma wanted to ask what had happened to her, but she wasn't sure Kasai would want to tell. And besides, if Kasai didn't want to share her story, then it must have been very traumatic, since Kasai was usually very open about things.

"What?" Kasai asked after Akuma hesitated a moment too long.

"Nothing," Akuma lied. She knew she shouldn't ask - Kasai would tell her what had happened to her when she wanted to. She had never meant for the Sureiyazu to find out about Tsugu and Hikari, and she guessed Kasai felt similarly. Still, she couldn't help but wonder - what exactly had Kasai been through? Had she been a spirit once? Or had her life merely been spared by a close call?

"Hello," Kasai sang. "Earth to Akuma . . ."

"Sorry, sorry." Akuma's thoughts jerked back to the present. "What were you saying?"

"I was asking if you wanted me to show you the forge," Kasai said impatiently, as if she had already said this before, multiple times. "I mean, later, after we're cleaned off and everything. It's just that I noticed you don't have any armor, and it makes demonslaying a lot easier if you do."

"Well, I guess," Akuma replied. "I'll come back down a little later and you can show me."

Kasai nodded, and Akuma said goodbye before leaving to, finally, wash off.

~~~

In the dining room, Yuri was chatting with Mizuki, who had been having full meals from the Sureiyazu for three days now, and had gotten a change of clothes. Yuri had so far found out her favorite color (purple), food (salmon), and animal (raven), and that she was an orphan.

"So . . ." Yuri asked Mizuki. "Can you fight? Kasai would love to spar with you! Oh - and me too! You could help me train and things like that!"

"I - I can," Mizuki answered awkwardly. "But I don't like to."

Yuri's face fell. "Well, I guess I'll have to train all by myself, then . . ."

"I'm sorry," Mizuki apologized, "but I don't like violence. It reminds me too much of stuff I . . . don't like to talk about."

"Oh." Yuri seemed to understand what she meant. "Well, then . . . um . . . how old are you?"

~~~

"Oh - Heishi." Aya had been going to the shrine, near the back of the castle, when she had run into him.

"Hey," he said back.

"If you don't mind my asking, why are you here - in this part of the castle, I mean?"

"See, the thing is, this castle is so big that I got lost. I was trying to go to the dining room, actually, because I'm starving, but I got here. Um, where is here?" Heishi looked around as if that would help.

"Just down a hall that way is the shrine," Aya explained, pointing down the hall. "Other than that, there isn't much in this part of the castle."

"Oh, okay. Then how do I get back to where the food is?" Heishi's stomach grumbled at the mention of food.

Aya, suppressing a laugh, told him where to go, and then walked down the hall towards the shrine. Something told her she would have a very hard time focusing her mind today.

~~~

Clang. Clang. Clang.

It was the only sound Akuma had heard for hours. Since Kasai had shown her the forge, she had felt a connection, an indescribable feeling. It seemed like a trance had come over her, and no matter how long she worked, she didn't care. She heated the metal unflinchingly and pounded her armor into shape with ease. Even Kasai had said she was a natural (somewhat jealously).

She somehow couldn't shake the feeling that she'd done this before, but slowly it faded to the back of her mind as the rhythm of the forge lulled her into a sleepy, almost mindless, state.

~~~

Could she fight?

Mizuki resisted the urge to laugh as she remembered the question, lying awake in bed. Oh, she could fight, all right. How much practice had she had over the years? Probably more that all of the Sureiyazu combined. It seemed like a stupid question to ask someone like her - someone who had been through what she had been through.

But yet she had been asked. Why? Because these four girls, the Sureiyazu of all people, didn't know who she was. And she considered that a good thing. No one knew the real Mizuki, and she intended it to stay that way.

Well, one man did. If you could call him a man - he had lost the description of "man" a long time ago. But whatever he was, he knew her. He knew her better than anyone in the world. And that was why she was the only one in her clan left. Because he and Mizuki knew each other. Others didn't understand his actions, others ran away, out of fear. But Mizuki trusted him. She had stayed loyal, when no one else had.

And still, even through all her loyalty, she couldn't make herself do the one last thing he had told her to do.

One thing, the better part of herself repeated. Only one thing.

But some other part of herself said it was wrong. Some other part of her, some part that she hated, wanted to crawl into a ball and cry.

No. She had never cried. She had done everything she had ever done without shedding a tear. She would have to complete this last task. It was what he wanted. So she had to do it.

She had to.